Garland Focused On Greatness In the Decathlon

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Kyle Garland believes in his potential to do something great across 10 track and field events and says he is determined to become America’s next great decathlete.

The 11th-grader from Philadelphia (Germantown Academy) recently won the pentathlon at New Balance Nationals Indoors with 4,150 points, a junior class record and the fourth-best total in prep history.

But Garland, at nearly 6 feet 5 and 210 pounds, is just getting started on a path that he hopes one day takes him to the same heights as two-time Olympic champion and world record holder Ashton Eaton.

He has studied the sport, and its history, enough to know that there is a long way to go in order to achieve “World’s Greatest Athlete” status.

“There’s a lot of things that come with that,” Garland said. “To be the ‘World’s Greatest Athlete’ you have to be able to back it up and show that you can perform. But in the future, knowing that you have that name on your shoulders (must be) incredible. That’s definitely what I would be shooting for in the future, going into the next four to eight years.”

Garland got started in track in middle school, and found success in the high jump first.

When he was 13, Garland was at an AAU regional meet in New Jersey when an official approached him and his family after watching him compete in the 100, 200, 400 and high jump.

“He suggested me for the multis, because he saw all these things I was doing at a high level,” Garland said.

That planted the seed. Garland began to find out what the decathlon was, how it worked, and the history behind it.

When he got to Germantown Academy, he played a season of freshman football.

“I didn’t have the best experience with football,” Garland said. “I didn’t see eye to eye with the coach.”

Football’s loss became track and field’s gain.

His father, Keith, ran two years on the track team at Temple (1985-87). He is a minister who also started a track club eight years ago called No More Xcuses.

“The truth is, Kyle is an outstanding receiver,” Keith Garland pointed out. “He’s got hands like baseball mitts. But he got caught up in some coaching politics, and then gravitated toward track and field. He embraced track and field like (no one) I’ve ever seen, frankly.”

Garland applied himself to the sport, learning the stories of men who earned the acclaim “World’s Greatest Athlete,” and watched countless YouTube videos.

“Studying my craft,” Garland said. “(Decathlon) is all I want to do. I want to make it my life. And a big part of being a track and field athlete is studying the history in order to be part of it even more.”

Fourteen of the 24 Olympic decathlons have been won by men from the U.S.

Garland is well aware of that legacy.

With the retirement earlier this year of Eaton, Garland aims to pay homage while figuring out if he might go a few points better someday.

“I have much respect for Ashton Eaton, not just an athlete but as a person as well,” Garland said. “The way he handles himself in all situations, how he gives back to his community and the track community in general, I just appreciate everything he does. He inspires me to become the type of person he is, and make my name known across the country and around the world.”

Garland was recently invited by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation to join the team of U.S. high school athletes it puts together for the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational, which is May 26-28 in Havana, Cuba.

In addition to competing for Germantown Academy through the Pennsylvania season, he is focused on decathlons at New Balance Nationals Outdoor and U.S. Juniors.

He’ll continue to train, with his dad. He’ll study his videos. And he’ll aim to keep driving his PRs.

“I go watch the pros that are in it now, watch their films, and slow it down so that I can see the little techniques and the small things that they’re doing, and see someone who knows what they’re doing,” Garland said. “I can look at things and really analyze it and break it down. Where are their legs placed, where the shoulders are, the head, where the eyes are looking.”

Garland’s combination of physical gifts and mental approach could be what sets him apart.

“Every year we project numbers based on what past Olympians and collegians have done (at his age),” Keith Garland said. “His numbers may project to XYZ, but the last two years Kyle has swallowed them. He is uniquely focused and prepared. That’s who he is.”

With two high school outdoor seasons still to go, Garland is already knocking on the door of seven feet in the high jump, which is his best event. 

Another event that is coming along is the 110 hurdles. Based on his indoor racing this winter, he expects to lower his PR considerably. 

"I am looking forward to hitting multiple sub-14 runs this year," Garland said. "I think I could blow up in that."

Garland is eager to hit new PRs across the board and perhaps challenge Gunnar Nixon's junior class record of 7,573 points. Last summer at the AAU Junior Olympics he won the boys 15-16 division with 6,823 points.

"I have a lot more potential in the throws and pole vault," he said. 

There is still plenty of time. He's just getting started.

Kyle Garland PRs in the 10 Decathlon Events

100 Meters – 11.22

Long Jump – 22-11.25

Shot Put – 49-6.50

High Jump – 6-10.75

400 Meters – 51.34

110-Meter Hurdles – 14.51

Discus – 124-6

Pole Vault – 11-6

Javelin – 135-6

1,500 Meters – 4:52.42